Hollee A. McGinnis, Ph.D.

Hollee A. McGinnis is an assistant professor in the VCU School of Social Work. She is interested in children’s mental health and well-being, child welfare and alternative care systems, and global social work. Her research broadly examines the social and cultural determinants of children’s mental health and well-being, with a specific focus on improving outcomes across the lifespan for children with histories of early childhood adversity and child welfare involvement in the U.S. and globally. This research is informed by her post-MSW training in children’s mental health at the Yale Child Study Center, work as the policy director at the Donaldson Adoption Institute, and founder of the non-profit organization for adult intercountry adoptees and adoptive families, Also-Known-As, Inc.

Most recently, Dr. McGinnis completed a mixed-methods study funded by U.S. Fulbright and Korea Foundation centered on identifying risk and protective factors associated with mental health and academic outcomes among adolescents residing in orphanages in South Korea. She was also a research affiliate on a CDC funded multi-year randomized-controlled trial adapting, implementing, and evaluating a trauma-based intervention, Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS), for adolescent girls involved in the child welfare system (Auslander, PI) through the Brown School’s Center for Violence and Injury Prevention. Another aspect of McGinnis’ research focuses on the intersectionality of race, culture, and adoption. At the Donaldson Adoption Institute, she led a study funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Beyond Culture Camp: Promoting Healthy Identity Formation in Adoption [PDF] on adoptive and racial identity development among same-race and transracial and transnationally adopted adults in the U.S.